Off with Their Heads/Riverboat Gamblers/Dead to Me: live in Denverlive in Denver (2011)live show

Reviewer Rating: 4.5

Contributed by: thepopeofchili-townthepopeofchili-town(others by this writer | submit your own)Published on July 19th 2011I am a huge fan of both Off with Their Heads and Dead to Me. When I learned they would be touring together I was thrilled. When I learned the Riverboat Gamblers would be joining them, I was a bit surprised. For one, there seems to be a great deal of crossover between Off with Their Heads' and Dead t.

I am a huge fan of both Off with Their Heads and Dead to Me. When I learned they would be touring together I was thrilled. When I learned the Riverboat Gamblers would be joining them, I was a bit surprised. For one, there seems to be a great deal of crossover between Off with Their Heads' and Dead to Me's fanbases, and the Riverboat Gamblers are something else entirely. Two, I was under the impression that they were fairly popular, certainly moreso than the other two bands at least. I turned out to be about half-right, but we'll get into that later.

Kicking off the night was St. Fall Apart, a local band that sounds a bit like what could have happened between the breakup of Kid Dynamite and the formation of None More Black. They played for about a half hour, mostly from their 2010 album Somos Extremos, and were a fun way to kick off the evening.

Set list:

Jesse Spano

I Told You

Shit Shot

Underground

Tomorrow Morning

Why Fix It

Regicide

Whoa Is You

I'm Not Sorry

Tragedy

NOFX

Widin' Out

Whoaverdose

Dead to Me were listed directly under Off with Their Heads on the show poster, with their name in the second-biggest font, so I was a bit surprised when they started setting up their gear as soon as St. Fall Apart left the stage. I had some reservations about the new lineup, as I was a huge fan of African Elephants, but those fears were alleviated as soon as they started playing. They were completely on point, and seemed to be having a great time. I've seen some videos that pointed to the contrary, but at least this night, Sam Johnson had no problem pulling off Jack Dalrymple's vocal parts.

About halfway through their set, the band busted out a speedy new song called "Undertow" that landed their upcoming album at the top of my "Most Anticipated" list. My one complaint about their set is that I could have used more African Elephants in the set list. I understand them not playing the Nathan Grice-penned songs, but it would have been nice to hear "Modern Muse" or "Tierra Del Fuego". Oh well. Technical difficulties set things back a bit, and caused the band to skip a couple songs on the set list (namely, "Ran That Scam" and "No Lullabies"). Still, they didn't let it phase them too much, and turned in perhaps my favorite performance of the evening, stealing the show.

Set list:

Splendid Isolation

Arrhythmic Palpitations

A Day Without a War

Undertow

Something New

Cause of My Anger

Little Brother

Don't Lie

By the Throat

The Riverboat Gamblers were up next. I wasn't very familiar with them, but I didn't mind the few songs I'd heard, so I gave then a shot. They definitely gave their all, and had a ton of energy. Their singer spent most of his time in the audience. The only song they played that I was familiar with, "On Again, Off Again" sounded just like its studio version, so I'm sure their fans loved it. Those fans were definitely a different sort of crew than the people who came to see Off with Their Heads and Dead to Me, and as such, a sizable chunk of the crowd left as soon as they were done playing. They were alright; I'll give them a C+.

Set list:

Let's Eat

True Crime

On Again Off Again

Maggie Lea

Rent Is Due

Black Nothing of a Cat

The Ol' Smash and Grab

Sleep Tonight

Parasite Friends

Don't Bury Me, I'm Still Not Dead

Save You

Biz Loves Sluts

The Art Of Getting Fucked [w/ Chicken and Ryan Young]

Off with Their Heads were up next. The band have always had a revolving-door lineup, but this was the first time I've ever seen them perform as a three-piece. It didn't really affect their sound that much, however. I'm not even sure a band like OwTH really needs two guitarists. They sounded just as tight as ever, and played most of the songs I wanted to hear ("Janie" was a notable exception. They skipped it, despite it being written on the set list). The crowd loved every second of it, with constant sing-alongs and intermittent stagedives, which I usually hate, but it added to the spirit of the event. The three bands on this tour seem to be friends, and having a great time.

Set list:

Die Today

Drive

Their Own Medicine

Go on Git Now

Your Child Is Dead

I Am You

The Eyes of Death

Theme Song

Self Checkout

Closed Early

Hard to Admit

For the Four

Fuck This, I'm Out

Trying to Breathe

SOS

Clear the AirEncore:

My Episodes

All I Can Do

Keep Falling Down

The banner on stage all night featured all three band names (or their initials, rather). There doesn't seem to be any giant egos at play. While I might not be a huge Riverboat Gamblers fan, this show was still a great time. For a good 50% of the crowd, however, the night was just getting started, for as soon as Off with Their Heads stepped off stage, a giant group of us started to make the pilgrimage six blocks down to the late-night Elway/Mixtapes show.

Saw the Seattle show and was about equally familiar with all three bands prior (as in, I had an album from each, but hadn't listened to them more than 2 or 3 times). RGB absolutely stole the show and was the only band to really make me a fan, though DTM was solid and OWTH was pretty great. Their music just doesn't do much for me.

For these 3 bands, I'd say it's pretty hard to give a definite "THEY should headline".
All 3 are pretty much on the same level, and all are enjoyable. I know the promoter's are supposed to be picking who plays when, but I think the most fair thing to do would to have all three bands get the same set times, like 45 minutes apiece or something.